Icarus

Ice Diatom Structures

Coordination

Johann Lavaud et Johannes Goessling

Project type

European

Project duration

Start Date

29/04/2024

End Date

29/04/2024

ICARUS is an interdisciplinary project at the science-art frontier. We will upscale the fine and highly ordered diatom frustule structures from the nanometer scale (i.e. more than 1000 times smaller than a human hair, and only visible with electron microscopes) to make them visible to the naked eye. In detail, we will shape meter-scale crystal-clear ice sculptures resembling the diatom structures from pure ice blocks provided by ‘Diamond Pure Clear Ice’ in Porto-Portugal. These sculptures will be displayed during an art installation and visually recorded during the melting process to produce a narrative of volatility and vulnerability of the natural resources in face of climate change-driven global warming. ICARUS received the labelling from the Saison France-Portugal 2002 / Temporada Portugal-França 2022.

The team

Laboratory Members

Contributors

  • Francisca Rocha Gonçalves, Artist
  • Johannes Goessling, Department of Biology and CESAM-Center for Environmental and Marine Studies, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal.
  • João Serôdio, Department of Biology and CESAM-Center for Environmental and Marine Studies, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal.